I Made a Mei Tai!

I've been getting really big into this whole babywearing thing. I love using my wrap, and both Zaylee and Thomas enjoy getting carried by it. And now today, I found a tutorial for making a simple and stylish mei tai (Asian baby carrier), and thought that I would give that one a try too!

I bought some cute home decor fabric (it has to be strong, sturdy fabric) from the clearance rack at Wal-Mart and made this super-cute mei tai this afternoon. It took a few hours, but it was so worth it! I love the bright colors - just enough to be cheery but not too bright and overstated. And I liked that the colors in the fabric changed from one to another. There are stripes of orange, red, and tan. The way the pattern laid out, I ended up with the main panel being both orange and red, and it makes a cool effect.

Since Thomas was still eating dinner when I was ready to model, Zaylee was happily willing to let me carry her instead.

One side is orange:


The other side is red:


And a slightly unflattering view from the back (oops, I should have made sure the straps were flat against my back, instead of folded up like that):


I feel very stylish with my new mei tai!

I used the tutorial found here. This is the Ball Baby Overall mei tai - it differs from other mei tais in that the straps are wider (and therefore more comfortable) and are the same color as the main panel. This mei tai was designed by Kimber Tower, who also sells her beautiful carriers at this website.

Singing in Church

As a way of advertising our upcoming performance of Women at the Well, several of the participants were asked to sing during either Sacrament Meeting or Relief Society for all the wards in the stake. I was asked to sing my song as a special musical number for our ward's Sacrament Meeting, and for the Relief Society of the ward that meets after us in our building.

I was pretty nervous - I've sung my song so many times I can't count them, but that was during practice in front of all the other participants, or at home in front of Jeff and the kids. Sunday was my first time actually performing the song for an audience (or congregation...) and therefore I was a mess of nerves! But if you go by the words of Jeff and everyone who came up to tell me I did a good job, and by the number of crying women in the congregation, I think I did a pretty good job! Jeff said he was amazed at how great my singing was, and that I could totally be on American Idol because I have such a good voice ... but I think he's a bit biased. ;-)

Anyway, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to perform my song, not once but twice, before the actual production. Now that I know I can do it even when I'm nervous, I'll be more confident on Saturday and less nervous (hopefully). I'm so excited about the performance on Saturday - but I'll miss practices and hanging out with all the wonderful women I've had the opportunity to meet and get to know. I'm always a little bit sad when a production is over - I've had a wonderful time and I'll definitely miss being a part of it.

New Sink and Thomas' Shirt

A couple cool things about today. We went to Wal-Mart to pick up diapers for Thomas, and when we got home there was a man under our sink.

A couple days ago I decided that I had finally had it with the faucet of our kitchen sink. It would spray water out of the top of the nozzle, all over the kitchen, if we turned it on too high. And I noticed that the stem itself, not just the nozzle, was leaking water. It made using the faucet really inconvenient and unpleasant. I had tried a couple times to tighten the nozzle, but it never did any good. And this last time it made it even worse. So I finally did what I should have done right away - I filed a maintenance request.

And today the maintenance man came and made it all better. He didn't just fix the old faucet...


He installed a beautiful shiny new faucet! This one doesn't leak anywhere at all, and it looks so much nicer than the old one, which was pretty much falling apart. I love our new faucet!

And that garlic in the background - we usually don't buy fresh garlic but it was super-duper on sale and we bought that whole packet of five heads of garlic for about 20 cents. I love being a bargain shopper!


The other cool thing about today was working on Thomas' new shirt. I bought a sheet at D.I. a while ago for the purpose of making a new Church shirt for Thomas. I got the pieces cut out and then they sat there for a while. Today I sewed it all together.


It's looking so cute, and Thomas is downright dapper in it, but I've hit a roadblock. I can't put in the buttons until I do the buttonholes, and I can't put in the buttonholes until I get a seam-ripper. We'll probably go shopping again tomorrow so I can go ahead and buy one, so I can do the buttonholes and buttons. I'm so excited for Thomas to be able to wear the entire outfit, this shirt and the coordinating pants.

I also did a bit of mending today. I bought a cute black skirt to wear for the Women at the Well performance (we're supposed to wear all black) but the hem was coming undone. I was excited to be able to fix the hem quickly and easily. And one of Jeff's pairs of pants had a hole in the pocket, which I was able to fix for him after I did my skirt. It's so nice to have a sewing machine and be able to do all these little sewing things! I'm so glad we decided to go ahead and buy one.

Wish I Weren't Sick...

Apparently my body doesn't like it when I stay up late snacking on sweets and junk food for three nights in a row. I woke up sick this morning, with a major stomach-ache and lots of time in the bathroom. I never even bothered to get out of my pajamas this morning, and I've spent the whole day lazing around on the couch or the computer (or the bathroom...) trying to rest and not feel so icky.

Lucky for me, today is the beginning of Jeff's off-week, so he's been home all day helping with the kids, and he'll be home for the next week. No more late night snack raids. We plan on going to bed at a decent time, and I am planning on not snacking on sweets after dinner. And then I'll just hope that I can be good and disciplined when Jeff goes back to work next week. Sigh, I knew all that snacking would catch up with me.

Now I just have to get rid of all those cookies I baked at 10:00 last night...

Time to Update I Guess

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Let me see if I can actually remember stuff to write about this week...

The beginning of the week is a blur 'cause it was so long ago and nothing really interesting happened. We went shopping on Monday, which I only remember because we always do our shopping on Monday. Let's see, Tuesday I had practice for Women at the Well. We worked on individual songs first, then all got together and worked on the group songs. I'm working on memorizing. I've had my song memorized for quite a while, but now am trying to make sure that I can sing the other parts without music too. I also have a couple lines that I need to memorize. It would be a lot easier if I hadn't lost my script last week...

Anyway, I'm getting really excited about our performance. The show is on the 21st, and I'm super excited that my mom is coming down to visit with the kids for spring break, and they'll probably be here in time to watch the show. Hooray! I'm so excited for a visit from Mom and everybody (and it will be good motivation to get the apartment cleaned up - it's been getting messy again).

Nothing memorable on Wednesday (evidenced by the fact that though I'm wracking my brains I can't remember it at all) so I'll skip forward to Thursday. We usually have our monthly girls' night out on Thursdays so I drove down to Lehi on Thursday evening with a pan full of brownies, super excited to watch Vocal Point and hang out with the girls. Except that upon arriving I realized that the concert (and girls' night) was actually on Friday night. Oops. Angie took pity on me and invited me in for dinner, then we went to her Enrichment activity. The youth in her ward put on a show for us, with singing and dancing and acting. Lots of talent, and I was very impressed! After enrichment I came back home and planned to make the drive again the next night for the actual Night Out.

Except that, on Friday morning the car wouldn't start. Jeff took the train to work and I called a friend in the ward to help us jump the car. But it turned out to not be the battery - we couldn't figure out what was wrong. So no Girls' Night Out, no Vocal Point, and the car is now in the shop (after Jeff and Brother B. had an adventure getting it there - apparently it's harder to tow than one might think). The man at the shop thinks it's the fuel pump, which costs over $500 to fix. Yikes! And ironically, he can't get it to not start now, and he hasn't even fixed it yet. Plus there's a problem with one of the fans that will cost over $200 should we choose to get that fixed too. Man, I really dislike when cars stop working right - it costs so much to fix them!!

Saturday morning we ran through the Women at the Well show, with staging and everything. That was fun, it's reminding me a bit of when I would be in high school plays. Except everyone goofs off less because we're all adult women instead of goofy teenagers. But we still have a good time. It's so neat to see it all coming together, and I still cry a bit during some of the more touching songs. I cry a lot more easily since becoming a mother - we had the CD of all these songs when I was younger but I don't think they ever made me cry back then. I guess I just understand things more now, and I am reading more into them - glimpsing into the lives of these women who were touched and blessed by Jesus in their lives. This has been a really special experience for me, and I'm really glad that I had the courage to audition to take part in this performance.

Jeff is transitioning to working nights, and Saturday was his first day of working the evening-to-early-morning shift. So starting on Saturday I have been staying up way too late at night because Jeff isn't here to make me go to bed! Since he'll be working late every other week indefinitely, this is something I need to work on. Gotta learn to get myself to bed at a decent time no matter when Jeff gets home. Also, I need to learn to control my nighttime snack cravings. When I'm up late without Jeff, I get itching to eat chocolate and baked goods and ice cream and whatever I can get my hands on. Yeah, that's gotta stop... or the scale won't be looking too friendly soon. :-)

Today being shopping day but not having the car, I walked to Smith's to do some minimalist grocery shopping, being limited to purchasing only what I could carry back with me. We decided we could just get milk, eggs, cheese, and bananas, and just leave anything else for later. I brought my backpack for the milk, cheese, and fruit, and a canvas bag for the eggs. I was gleeful to learn that because I didn't use plastic bags, I got a five cent discount! Hmm, something to remember... I could sew up some grocery bags using scrap fabric and over the year we could probably save up several dollars! Whoopee! (heeheehee)

I just remembered something memorable about Wednesday! We went to have dinner with Jeff's sister Joy and her kids. We had taco salad, and it was really yummy. Joy had been going through their stuff and found lots of old books from back when she and Jeff and their brothers were young kids. She didn't want them anymore, so she gave them to us! It's fun to see so many books that Jeff used to read as a young boy - some of them are the same ones that I used to read too! And in one of them, he wrote his name in the front. It was way back when he first learned to write, because the J is backward and there are two Y's - JEFFREYY. It's really cute. The kids have been having a blast with their new books - mostly by spreading them out all over the living room. But we've been reading them too. Today I finally got them out of the living room and onto the bookshelf in the kids room. We'll see how long they keep them there nicely before they pull them all off and stack them in a pile in the middle of the room. I know my children, and I know how they operate. I just have to keep my eyes open if I want to avert the inevitable.

Okay, this post is way too long now, and there aren't even any pictures. I better end it now.

Stake Conference

I just remembered that I wanted to post about our Stake Conference this weekend. There's a few really awesome things about living in Salt Lake City. First, our Stake Center (where we had the Saturday evening session of conference) is only one block away from our apartment, and it looks like a castle.


Second is that we had the Sunday morning session of conference at the old Assembly Hall on Temple Square.


Gorgeous, isn't it? I managed to get some pictures of the inside before and after the conference. This is the organ (aaah, I love it!):


And here is a mural on the ceiling:


After conference we walked around the square for a while, and I took some pictures. Here's one of a statue of Joseph Smith.


Third cool thing is that you run into people that you never thought you'd run into. I was sitting with the kids on our pew, and I happened to glance over to another pew and see my Young Women leader from when I was in high school - in California! Never thought I'd see her here! Turns out she just moved up here, just like we did, and now we're in the same stake. What a fun coincidence. She's the one that gave me the recipe for the delicious shrimp appetizer that I make for Jeff and I every Valentine's Day.

I thought that now might be a pretty good time to announce that, even though I was miserable to be moving here to Salt Lake a few months ago, I recently discovered that I actually like it here! It has sort of snuck up on me, and then it just hit me that not only am I tolerating the area, but I actually really like it. I love the library, I love that we're within walking distance of D.I., Smith's, Big Lots, Walgreens, and our ward building and stake center. I love that we're so close to Temple Square that we can just take the Trax and it's free the whole way. I love that our Wal-Mart is so huge that I can find pretty much everything there - it even has a fabric section, which has been removed from most Wal-Marts. I love that I'm surrounded by beautiful buildings with history and architechtural interest. I don't even mind driving anymore. I don't go out of my way to find an excuse to drive, but I don't avoid it either. I've driven to American Fork twice, and I don't freak out on the huge freeways anymore.

However, I still don't like living in such a tiny apartment. That's something that I don't think will ever change! :-)

Stephanie Needs...

This was on Rachel's blog and Sarah's blog. Thought I'd join in! Google your name followed by the word needs. (ie...bob needs) and write the first 10 things that come up.

Stephanie needs...
1. some help. Look at those pants!
2. to be in a family where there are no other children or animals.
3. a behavior modification approach to deal with some residual effects and strong-willed ness.
4. is on Facebook.
5. to get a life!!!!
6. a family who can help her strive to participate in structured recreational and social activities.
7. a date for Valentine's Day!
8. help in locating a job in the kingston area to stop me from driving to work in belleville.
9. a sound proofed home to protect her.
10. a loving home.

There were some weird ones (apparently according to my number 4, there's actually someone named Stephanie Needs). I came across several other blogs and stuff that had this exact list thing, but I tried not to copy their lists (though I could have).

Having Fun Sewing

I've only had my sewing machine for a few days, but I think I'm already addicted to it. I keep searching online for free sewing patterns. I have found several for repurposing old t-shirts. This appeals to me because I am a t-shirt hoarder. I've kept t-shirts from girls' camp, band, theater, CPR Saturday, youth conference, and those t-shirts they give out when you donate blood. I have a lot of t-shirts! But they're not stylish so I never wear them except occasionally as a pajama top.

I found this pattern for repurposing a t-shirt as yoga pants. I've seen patterns for making toddler pajama pants out of an adult shirt, but never something in my size. I was so excited that I had to go digging through my drawer to find the perfect shirt to turn into pants for me! No, I don't do yoga, but since when do you have to actually do yoga in order to wear a comfy pair of yoga pants? ;-)

Here's the finished result. I should have taken a picture of the original t-shirt, but I was too excited to actually get cutting and sewing.


In this picture, I'm also wearing one of the shirts that I got from the free pile earlier today. This is the only thing that actually fit me well, so everything else will be chopped up and sewed into something else.

I'm having so much fun with my awesome new sewing machine!!!

New Clothes to Repurpose

I had my Women at the Well rehearsal this morning, and it went pretty well. But the exciting part of the day came as I was walking home from rehearsal. Just before our street, I passed a rack of clothes and a couple piles of miscellaneous stuff, right next to a box that said "FREE." I hurried home to drop off my music, but I knew that I had to go back to the free stuff! So I tossed Zaylee into some shoes and a jacket and we headed over to see what we could find. Zaylee had fun playing with a stick and petting the dog that was in the yard (a very friendly collie), while I riffled through to find interesting clothes that could be repurposed. I ended up with two shirts, two skirts, a dress, and a pair of jeans.


I'm going to try them all on - if any fit and look just great I'll probably keep them for myself. But I purposefully chose things with interesting fabrics and patterns so that if they don't fit, I can cut them up and sew them into something new. Zaylee could use a few new dresses. :-)

Thomas' Pants

I've been working on Thomas' new pants for a couple days, and they're finally done! Well, mostly done. I still have to reinforce the seams, but the pants are wearably done. Sorry I didn't take a picture of the shirt I used to make the pants - it was actually a pretty ugly shirt, but I knew that the stripes would make for some really cute pants.


I couldn't get Thomas to stand up while wearing them - he wanted to sit and drink his water. But here's a couple pics of him wearing his cute new pants.



I also have his new shirt cut out, I just have to piece it together. I don't know if I'll have it done in time for Church on Sunday, but if not that's okay - he does have other shirts even though they are a bit on the small side. I can't wait until the whole outfit is done - Thomas is going to be so stinkin' cute when he wears it!

My New Book

We went to the thrift store (D.I.) this morning, just the kids and I. My specific purpose was to find fabric (via sheets or repurposable clothes) to make Thomas some new church clothes. I did find a pale green sheet that will make an adorable button-up collar shirt, and a large men's woven shirt that I will cut up to make into some matching pants. I can even use the buttons from the shirt I'm cutting up for the shirt I'm making. And there will be extra fabric from the large shirt to make a little bowtie or something to match the pants. Anyway, it will be a very cute little suit when I'm done with it.

After finding the sheet and shirt, the kids and I browsed the books for a while. I love looking for old cookbooks. Not old as in "blah," but old as in "wow that's so old it's cool!" And I found one that's really cool - the Southern Living 1983 Annual Recipes book. Every Southern Living recipe that was published the year that I was born. I get sentimental about my birth year. I even have a stack of Ensigns from 1983 - not all the months, but most of them. So it was exciting for me to find a big cookbook from that year.


There are a few photographs thrown in here and there, but it's mostly hand-drawn pictures, if any pictures are given at all. So awesome!


Anyway, keep an eye out for when I post Thomas' new suit. I haven't started on it yet, but I will shortly. I'm so excited! All in all, I consider this to have been a very successful D.I. run.

My New Toy

We discovered Big Lots the other day. Among many other fun and inexpensive items, including furniture and foods, there was a small stack of refurbished sewing machines in the top shelf in one of the aisles. Oh how I wanted one! But we had walked that day and couldn't carry it home, plus at $62, while that is inexpensive for a sewing machine, it wasn't exactly a small purchase and I had conflicted feelings. I wanted the sewing machine, but could I justify spending that much money on anything?

After a lot of thinking and vacillating back and forth on the issue, Jeff finally went back to Big Lots yesterday and bought me the sewing machine. Isn't he awesome?!


We waited to open it until the kids were in bed. I read the whole instruction book, ran the machine threadless for a couple seconds, and basically just oohed and aahed and experimented with my fun new toy.


This morning I used my new sewing machine to add about a yard of length to the wrap I made for Thomas, just like I said I wanted to. Now I can carry him in a few other positions that weren't really possible when it was shorter.

And I'm just so excited because there are so many things I can make now that I have a sewing machine! Thomas has outgrown most of his Sunday outfits, so I'd like to make him some new pants and a nice shirt. And I can make dresses for Zaylee and shirts for me and all sorts of fun things! Oh goodie!!!!

Budding Artist

Zaylee was doodling on her little DoodlePro this afternoon, and Jeff and I were thrilled when she showed us what she had drawn:


This is the first time we've seen that she's drawn faces that are recognizable as faces, with eyes and mouths. She's growing so fast! Zaylee says the one on the left is "Girl" (how she sometimes refers to herself), the middle one is "Daddy" and the one on the right is "Mommy" - kinda funny how close to being accurate her proportions actually are - Jeff's head is quite large and Zaylee's is quite small. :-)

The Attic in the Basement, Right Next to the Crystal Caves

We went to the library. Well actually, we have been to the library several times but this time I brought the camera to prove how awesome the children's section really is.

When I first walked up to the library building, the first thing I noticed (after the sheer size; can that huge building actually be a library?) is the fact that it's made of five stories of glass. It was hard to keep from having that "I'm from a small town and have never seen a library like this" look from being plastered all over my face as I gaped at the sky through the ceiling once we got inside. To get to the children's section (where we have spent most of our time) you take the glass elevator down to the basement level. Practically the entire floor is dedicated to children's books, with benches and couches for reading, computers for working or playing, and...



...The Attic.


The attic is an entire room in the children's section for playing. It's a wooden room that is designed to look like a Gramma's attic but without the mess of antiques and dust all over. There are lots of big teddy bears to play with...


And plenty of places to sit and read a book...


Or just sit without reading...


The attic is a fun place to play!



Located conveniently near the attic are the Crystal Caves. Though not quite as impressive as the attic, the caves are a nice place to wander around...


And a good place to sit and relax.


We love our local library!

Netted Bag for Tub Toys

The Problem:
With limited shelf space in the tub, the kids' tub toys end up in a big messy pile on the space saver in the shower, displacing various cleansers and making my razor hard to get to.


The Solution:
I crocheted a simple netted bag to hang on the space saver, in which the toys fit nicely.


Now everything looks neater and is more accessible, and the kids have a cute bag to keep their tub toys in. The bag took only about half an hour to crochet.

A Post About Two Things

First: A Cheap Alternative to Building Blocks

Zaylee and Thomas discovered that when they empty the canned foods cabinet, they can stack the cans over and over for hours of fun!





Second: Some Great D.I. Finds

We went to D.I. a couple days ago and found some great stuff! The original plan was to look for a sewing machine. We went to the D.I. closest to our apartment. No sewing machines, but we found a Moses basket for $2. We don't actually need it right now, but for a price like that I couldn't pass it up. We might need it someday! It came without a liner, but I can make one later.


Then we tried the next closest D.I. (being in Salt Lake, they're pretty much all over the place). Again, no sewing machine (well, there were a couple but they were probably older than I am). But we did find a little stroller. We have a double stroller that we have really enjoyed using, but it is very large and bulky, and a nightmare to get up and down the stairs of the apartment, especially with two small children in tow. So when we found this smaller stroller for $4, we grabbed it up.


I can put Zaylee in the stroller while I carry Thomas in the wrap, or I can put Thomas in the stroller and let Zaylee walk. It works well either way. Plus it folds up so small and is uber portable!


Next to the double stroller. Which would you rather cart up and down a flight of stairs? :-)

That's a Wrap!

The other day I was surfing the 'Net and came across a wonderful website dedicated to babywearing. I don't remember how I got there but I stayed on that site for a long time, studying the various babywearing techniques and types. The more I looked at it the more I wanted a baby wrap of my own. There are instructions on how to make your own - so seriously simple that I decided I couldn't wait and had to have one right away! I dug out a box of fabrics from under Zaylee's bed (I had to remove the mattress and several of the supports to do so; the box was all the way in the back corner) and chose a fabric. I had purchased it at D.I. a few years ago and never really done anything with it. All I had to do was cut a strip of fabric 12 feet long (that's as long as the fabric was) and 25 inches wide, and I had a wrap!

Then came the fun part. I started practicing all the wrapping techiques I could, at first using one of Zaylee's babydolls for practice. After I got more confident, I practiced a bit on Thomas (remember my last post, where I said he wanted nothing to do with it?) then went back to working on the doll. Since then I've used the wrap with Thomas a couple times: when we went shopping on Monday and on a walk yesterday. He's very much warmed up to the wrap when he realizes that it means he gets to go outside!

Here's the wrap - just a simple piece of fabric (ignore the silly look on my face; I hate taking my own picture!):


And two of my favorite ways to carry Thomas - on the hip:


And on the back:


Neat, huh? I kind of want to sew another foot or two onto the end so that I can do some of the other carries that require a bit more length, but for the time being (until I get a sewing machine) I'll just enjoy it the way it is. :-)

I'm Not Needed - And That's a Good Thing

At the moment my children don't need me. In fact, they don't even want me. Zaylee and Thomas are playing in their room. Together. Happily. There is laughter coming through the door. This is a rarity in our house.

I keep peeking in. I just made a wrap to use for toting Thomas around (it's easier than lugging the double stroller up and down the stairs in the apartment), and have been pulling Thomas from his play to practice the various positions for carrying him. Each time, the position works, but Thomas struggles for all he's worth to get back down to Zaylee and the toys. The kids want me out of the room - they want to be left alone to play.

Right now, I'm not needed.

And that's a good thing.

Some Pictures

I've been getting really into the digital photography book that Michelle gave me for my birthday way back in November. I'm learning to use my camera better, and get good pictures despite it being just a simple point-and-shoot. Today it was snowing, and I was excited to look out the window at the snow-covered shrubs and see picture opportunities. So I bundled up a bit and took the camera out. Here's the best shots from my little excursion to the bushes beneath our window.

For this one I laid down in the snow on my back to get a shot of the underside of the branches. Everyone sees the snowy shrubs from the top, how many people actually look at the bottom?


These were some stark little branches by the entry wall. I like how the wall in the background acts as sort of a frame.


And this is my favorite picture. I wanted to try to get a focal point in this picture, so I chose a little leaf and, following the Rule of Thirds, positioned it in the left third of the picture.


For the above picture, I used a trick I learned from the book about auto-focus. When you want your subject to be off-center but still in focus, center the subject in the viewfinder (or LCD screen since my camera doesn't have a separate viewfinder) and hold the button down halfway. The auto-focus focuses on the subject because it's in the middle. Then, while continuing to hold the button halfway, shift the camera so the subject is where you want it. Then press the button the rest of the way to take the picture. The camera is still auto-focused on the subject, even though it's no longer in the center of the picture. Neat, huh?

Lucky...

Lucky you! The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. {might be a little while}
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or maybe even some creation I haven't even invented yet. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!

* * *Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!* * *

Night at the Museum

Okay, actually it was an afternoon at the museum, but I thought that would be a fun title.

Yesterday after my Women at the Well rehearsal, we went with Jeff's sister Joy and her family to the Utah Museum of Natural History. We had a really good time there, looking at all the exhibits, letting the kids explore a bit, and spending time with family.

I don't want to do a big, long post with a bunch of writing, so I'll just post some pictures of the stuff we saw and did.

Here's Zaylee (and cousin Marilee in the background) at the dinosaur "dig," where the kids get to use brushes to wipe sand off dinosaur bones.


Sorry for the blur, the museum doesn't allow flash, and the lighting wasn't all that great. All the pictures I took of the kids turned out like this or worse, so this is the only one I'm posting.

Next is one of the displays in anthropology. These are some of the tools that ancient people used in their everyday life.


Next up is the drawer of shoes. In a small corner of the anthropology department, there are three drawers you can pull out and look at real ancient shoes under glass. These were the moccasins of early American Indians. I mainly am mentioning this because of the smell. When you open the drawers you get this enormous whiff of centuries-old foot odor - whew!!! Still, it's a neat display.


After the rock gallery (where we saw a quartz three times the size of Zaylee's head and an enormous variety of minerals and stones of various sizes, shapes, and colors) we headed into the bug gallery. Zaylee and Thomas were particularly fascinated with this part of the museum, as they got to see triops and ants and beetles and all manner of creepy crawlies. My personal favorite was the tarantula.


Friendly-looking little guy, isn't he? He was hiding in a dark burrow at the bottom of his case, and there's a button to press to turn on the light so you can see him. Jeff's niece Jaime let out a yelp every time she saw the tarantula (she's 10, or 11?). At several inches in length, I have to admit he was a bit yelp-inspiring and I let out a gasp when I first saw him too!

Next up was the "zoo" of the museum, where there are a variety of taxidermied animals. Like this wolf:


I had fun taking this picture, trying to get a good close angle. I wish there wasn't a glare from the glass case, it would have been much more realistic looking!

The last display room housed the dinosaur bones. Here's a mother dinosaur standing guard over her nest.


We finished up the tour by creating earthquakes (there's a place on the floor where you jump and it records it on a seismograph. Joy's husband Jim made the biggest "earthquake" - he's got quite a jump!), looking at a 3-D topography map of the area (complete with those goofy red and blue 3-D glasses), and wandering around the gift shop. Jeff and I, of course, didn't buy anything because we're ultra cheap, but if we weren't saving money there was an awesome Native American cradle that I would have loved to get, for only $200! lol...

After that we had to call it a day. Jeff and I had talks to write (we spoke in Church today) and soup to make (we had a linger-longer after Church today). I got my talk written, but I had a killer migraine due to having spent the afternoon walking around. So my talk was kind of short - I made it as long as I could before I simply had to stop from the pain.

About the linger-longer: We made turkey vegetable soup. The broth was homemade, from when we simmered our turkey carcass for two days, and there were potatoes and carrots and celery and onion and cabbage and barley, and of course turkey. It was so delicious! At the linger-longer there were a beautiful array of homemade soups. I'm sad I only got to try three or four of them. But they were sure good!

Now it's time for dinner, I think we'll have soup...

Girls' Night out and LOVE Banners

Last night I had a girls' night out with Angie (of The American Homemaker) and some other girls, and we had a great time! First we snacked on some delicious treats that we each had brought, like spinach artichoke dip (I love that stuff, I was in heaven!) on French bread, warm and chocolaty brownies, barbecue chicken bites, and some delicious chocolate truffles that I made yesterday just for the occasion. After that we got crafty and made some adorable Valentine cards and LOVE banners. We used Angie's papers and craft supplies and everyone came up with something different for their banners, but they were all so fun. I didn't have my camera with me to take pics of everyone's stuff, but here's my banner hung delightfully above my couch.


I did mine in vintage colors (so soft and romantic!), while some of the others chose to use pinks and reds for a bright and cheerful Valentine's look. Here's the banner that Angie made last night, and here's the link to her tutorial on how to make them, if you want to make your own. Lots of fun!

Cleaning Up

I witnessed what I consider to be the pinnacle of my bad housekeeping skills this evening as I watched Jeff use the hose attachment to vacuum the gunk off the table before dinner.

Can I really be that bad of a housekeeper? I guess so.